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Young children are infected by a diverse range of enteric pathogens in high disease burden settings, suggesting pathogen contamination of the environment is equally diverse. This study aimed to characterize across- and within-neighborhood diversity in enteric pathogen contamination of public domains in urban informal settlements of Kisumu, Kenya, and to assess the relationship between pathogen detection patterns and human and domestic animal sanitation conditions. Microbial contamination of soil and surface water from 166 public sites in three Kisumu neighborhoods was measured by enterococcal assays and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) for 19 enteric pathogens. Regression was used to assess the association between observed sanitary indicators of contamination with enterococci and pathogen presence and concentration, and pathogen diversity. Seventeen types of pathogens were detected in Kisumu public domains. Enteric pathogens were codetected in 33% of soil and 65% of surface water samples. Greater pathogen diversity was associated with the presence of domestic animal feces but not with human open defecation, deteriorating latrines, flies, or disposal of human feces. Sanitary conditions were not associated with enterococcal bacteria, specific pathogen concentrations, or "any pathogen". Young children played at 40% of observed sites. Managing domestic animal feces may be required to reduce enteric pathogen environmental contamination in high-burden settings.

Whitt et al. Future of Autonomous Ocean Observations reductions. Cost reductions could enable order-of-magnitude increases in platform operations and increase sampling resolution for a given level of investment. Energy harvesting technologies should be integral to the system design, for sensors, platforms, vehicles, and docking stations. Connections are needed between the marine energy and ocean observing communities to coordinate among funding sources, researchers, and end users. Regional teams should work with global organizations such as IOC/GOOS in governance development. International networks such as emerging glider operations (EGO) should also provide a forum for addressing governance. Networks of multiple vehicles can improve operational efficiencies and transform operational patterns. There is a need to develop operational architectures at regional and global scales to provide a backbone for active networking of autonomous platforms.

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In addition, I would like to thank all my lab mates, in particular, Anindo, Anurag, Lakshmi, and Torsha at the Center for Distributed and Mobile Computing (CDMC) for their constant support and helpful suggestions during the course of my thesis work. My friends have made my life wonderful and memorable in Cincinnati. Special thanks to Akshay, Altaf, Andreas, Ashish, Hemant, Lynda, Mamoon, Mary, Matt and Naveen. I will cherish their friendship and all the good times we have shared. I would also like to express special appreciation to the Singhals for their constant support, love and encouragement.